Everyone: lose a friend
by wolf.chicken184
Summary: The humans and trolls lived in separate parts of the cities but what if the troll part of the city was bombed and Karkat lost his memory of all of his friends? How would everyone deal with this, especially his matesprit Dave?
1. Karkat: what happened?

The clenching pain in your stomach, it hurts. You have to cough but you can't because of the way your body is arranged. Is there something on top of you? You don't know but right now it's one of your lowest priorities.

You clench your eyes shut with pain; you feel a wet sensation going down your face. Is it raining? It's too stuffy for you to be outside. You don't want to think of the possibility that it may be anything else.

You body longs to cough sneeze and move but you can't. You're stuck and it hurts you to be like this, what happened? You don't remember, you should be able to, who can't you? You start to shake, is it cold? Are you nervous? Stop shaking!

Steadily the weight on your side starts to lighten; there were things on top of you. Rubble and little pieces of little things fall back on to you as it's lifted. Something is yelled by man standing above you, a few more people start to get the things of the top of you.

After a while two of them coordinate and reach down to lift you out. They carry you for a while, it feels like to long. You want to squirm to get away, you want to ask them what the hell they think they're doing but you don't have the strength.

You wake up again and you hear the faintest sound of sobs and cries all around you, you look to your side and you see that you're on a little blanket that's only just off the ground. You groan, you look to your other side to see a blonde boy on the floor next to you.

His hair is unstylishy flopping over his face; his glasses have fallen to the ground just in front of his face. He's bruised and battered all over but you recognise him, where have you seen him. You lean on your side to face him; you brush some of the hair out of his face and go to move the glasses. His hand stops you, you see his red pupils for a second as he stares at you. He sits up and takes the glasses to put them on.

"Dude, i've said before. Never touch the glasses." He says in a low but not so low that it's raspy; it's a young low voice. He says it's so familiarly, it's as if he knows you.

"I'm sorry, do i know you?" You say innocently.

"K- Karkat?" He leans in closer to look at your face, "It's me Dave, you know. Your boyfriend or matesprite whatever you want to call it."

"I'm sorry i don't..." Remember? Is that the word? Do you know him? Maybe he's lying; he doesn't seem like your type. He seems too cool for you; you'd never fall for someone like him. He's handsome and cute but something about him just doesn't seem like something you'd like.

He looks away from you with his head slightly bowed; he runs a hand through his golden hair. He then smiles and looks at you again, he stands up. "Do you want anything? Food or drink. I'll try to find something." He walks away and a girl who just jogged in sees him and stops to talk with him, he says something while she looks at you. She looks shocked and then flings her arms around him.

She doesn't look like him she's got long black hair and dorky glasses. They're too far away for you to be able to hear what they're saying but you try nether the less. They stop hugging and Jade pats his arm, he then gestures away. She nods and walk towards you with a kind smile.

"Hey Karkat, do you remember me?" She says happily as she sits down next to you.

"No... Should I?" You say bluntly.

"Yes, but its fine. Do you know what happened? Has anyone explained it to you?" She fiddles with a bandage on your arm as you speak.

"No," You feel uncomfortable with her touching you.

"Well, the government of Tarin hated the fact that we looked after your kind so they decided they would bomb the biggest area with trolls living in it. That just so happened to be your neighbourhood. Bunches of your friend were injured in the process, a lot of people died." She tightens the bandage and it hurts slightly. "Aradia died, Tavros' legs were badly injured and he probably won't ever be able to walk again, Kanaya's unconscious Rose hasn't left her, Terezi got loads of glass in her eyes, Vriska's whole arm was blown off along with her eye on that side too, it's pretty bad but i believe we can recover."

"I don't know those people." You cut her off slightly.

She sighs, "Is there no one you remember at all?"

"I don't know... Kankri?" It takes you a while to think of a name you remember.

"Who?" She tilts her head slightly in confusion.

"Kankri, Porrim, Mituna? Those people..."

At that moment Dave walks in, he's holding three bags loosely in his hands. "What's goin' on?"

"Have you heard of Kankri?" Jade asks him as he hands her a bag.

"No, who is it?" He sits down next to her.

As they talk you push yourself up and Dave hands you a bag, you open it up and see a bottle of water and a not so nice looking sandwich. You take out the bottle and start to sip as you listen to them talk to each other, they sound like close friends. They could be seen as matesprites in the ignorant eyes but there's an edge that says not quite moirails or matesprites but it could change into it if they let it.


	2. Karkat: get up

Days pass and you fidget on your mat as people come and go from where you are. No one lets you leave and you're not sure what you would do if you did leave so you stay. You meet new people apart from Jade and Dave, you met John, Feferi and many more. They all act like you know them.

They touch you friendly, you open up slightly just because of how they act but you're still cautious. Dave stays by your side constantly, he only leaves to go get food and drinks and to change your "piss pot" as he so elegantly puts it.

One night it was completely silent between you two until he asked, "So you can't remember me at all?"

"No," you lock eyes for a second then he takes off his glasses.

He rubs his eyes as he talks, "I guess we're not dating then."

"I guess not, i'm sorry." He puts his glasses back on and tilts the edges of his mouth up into a hurt smile.

"It's fine, it just gives me incentive to get you to love me again." He leans over and kisses your cheek, you push him away instinctively and he laughs.

3 days you lay in bed until you finally just stood up one time when Dave was away, it was difficult but you were able to stand. You starts to walk down the aisle on each side were people in beds the exact same to yours.

Your eyes landed on a girl with bandages over her eyes, he had little sharp pointy horns that protruded over her medium length hair. Something about her sparked something inside of you.

"Karkat!" You hear Jade call but your eyes stay on the girl. "Oh my god, Karkat are you crying?"

You quickly look at her then back to the girl and put a hand to your face, you were. Red tears were streaking down your face fast. You wiped them away, why would you cry? She was like everyone else here, hurt and injured but... it made you sad?

"Wh-who is she?" You ask through sobs.

"Terezi, you knew her." Jade pulls you into a hug. You don't hug her back but appreciate her contact.

"What happened to her?" You ask into her shoulder.

"When the bomb hit she wasn't injured bad but a lot of glass got into her eyes. She won't be able to see again." She steadily let go of you and smiles kindly, "Do you want to go back to bed?"

"No, i want to talk around some more. I... i want to see more of my old friends. Who else do i know here?" You ask her and she smiles brighter.

She starts to walk down the isle and points out a boy who lost his legs, a girl who lost one girl and an arm and a couple of unconscious bodies.

"How did i have so many friends?" You genuinely ask.

She laughs, "You were rather popular for some bazaar reason. You are a nice person."

You feel heat rise to your face, you then notice Dave running towards you.

"What are you doing out of bed? Jade you let him get up?" He sounds like he's in a panic.

"I can walk, it's only my head i hit." You shoot back.

He stumbles over his words for a moment until he holds out a bag to you, "I got ingredients for pancakes, i was thinking you could come to my house. Maybe live with me?"

"Do i not have anywhere else to go?"

Jade and Dave share a look, "Not really." Dave answers after a while.

"Alright then, let's see your abode Strider. Better not be a fucking mess."


	3. Karkat: go to Dave's

Dave and Jade lead you out of the make shift hospital the next day early in the morning. You finally see the outside world, the destroyed neighbourhood. You're not sure what you expected. Houses that just don't exist anymore, rubble is all that's left. Dust rises from the ground like a smoke marking this whole area as gone. There are a few people going through the rubble, they're covered in dust. That seems like everywhere.

"I lived here?" It's hardly a question for them to answer.

"Yeah, with Kanaya in a house just over there." Jade points to your left, it looks exactly the same as everywhere else.

"Let's just get to your house Strider." You start to walk forward to say "let's get the fuck out of here."

"We're going to have to take the train, I live rather far away." He starts to walk towards the closest building, it's a train station. That would make sense.

You get on the train, you get some weird looks because of the bandage on your head and the fact that you smell pretty bad. You get to an actual neighbourhood, Jade and Dave navigate it easily. They get to a pretty run down house, there are cracks in the bricks and ivy growing up the side of the house. You could see Strider living here.

He unlocks the front door and walks in, "Rose, you home?"

"Of course." You here a very articulate voice reply, "I'm in the living room with Kanaya."

You walk through into the living room after Dave and see a blonde girl that looks a little bit like Dave sat on a chair with a book, on the sofa is a tall female troll. Is she Kanaya? You feel like you know her so well... Gog why did you have to lose your memory!

"How's she doing?" Jade asks as Dave leaves the room, you decide to stick with Jade.

"Marvellous! She woke up earlier today, i was able to get her to eat before she fell back to sleep." She locks eyes with you, "It's nice to see you again Karkat, Kanaya when she first woke up asked where you were."

"Ohh, that's cool i guess." You feel bad for not knowing her, did you matter to her so much that you were the first person she thought of when she woke up?

"I heard about your lack of memories, I am sorry." She stands up and it makes you nervous. How are you the shortest here? She doesn't even have a big presence, are you that short? Or are they all tall? No you're short, it's false hope.

"Thanks, emmm. R-rrrrr..."" You can't remember her name! You swear Dave just said it... Ross? Rasp? God damn it!

"Rose, it's a pleasure to meet you if you truly don't remember me." She shakes your hand as she walks out the room.

"Karkat!" You hear Dave call your names, you lock eyes with him through the two door frames. He is about to say something then he hits himself in the head, "I'm a fucking idiot, i was about to ask you how you liked your pancakes!"

You laugh slightly at this, it hurts, yes but it's still funny. He's rather charming, you can see how you fell for him. If that it what happened, maybe the relationship was totally different to how you're imagining.


	4. Karkat: eat pancakes

The pancakes are nice, you all put overly sweet thing on them that probably idn't the healthiest ever but it tastes nice so who cares about health. Dave keeps the ironic pink flowery apron on; it almost causes you to laugh every time you look at him. Rose sits by the arch way that means she can look into the living room, that she does, it's almost like a nervous thing. Is she checking on the girl on the sofa? Does she mean that much to her as a single person or does she matter that much to everyone?

"So how's your girlfriend?" Dave grins; he directs it at Rose completely. Wait, lesbians?

"We're not going out and you know that." Rose shoots back.

"You both want to though." Dave leans back and smirks.

"Is that really your priority right now?" Rose pokes her pancakes and you feel like you should do the same so you take a bite in your mouth and watch the conversation continue.

"No, I was genuinely asking how she is. She woke up right? Did she still have her memories?" Dave had finished his pancakes so he is waiting for the rest of us to finish ours but he's slowing us all down by starting a conversation.

"Yes, she indeed did wake up but she still had her memories. She was slightly scared but i was able to calm her down and get her to eat and drink. She asked so many questions before she went back to sleep."

"Did you tell her about Karkat?" Jade asks. She has now also finished her food, you're on your last bite. Rose has more than a half left... somehow.

"She asked where he was... i told her you were okay but didn't say what happened." She looks into the living room again, she really looks like she wants to finish this conversation. You need to know.

"What is my relationship to her?" You don't make eye contact with anyone, you stare at your empty plate and all it's little smudges.

"You weren't dating if that's what you're asking." Dave retorts quickly.

"You were like family," Rose smiles kindly, it is odd on her features but it assures you that she's telling the truth. "You were... moirails?"

"Ohh, that's great." You have someone else that cares about you that you don't know anymore. If she's your moirail this will really hurt her you find this out. Maybe you'll get your memories back before she wakes up.

It's silent for a few minutes, Dave stands up quickly and picks up his own plate as well as Jade's and yours. He takes them to the sink, "Hey Jade, could you get bedding for Karkat?"

You perk up at the mention of you name, "Where is he sleeping?" Jade slowly stands up and you do the same, Rose stays and finishes off her Pancakes.

"The only space we have is the floor on the living room..." Dave don't face you as he talks, you sigh in annoyance at the idea of sleeping on the floor for another night.

You and Jade spend the next hour or so simply taking bedding downstairs and throwing it on the living room floor. When all of the spare bedding is on the floor Jade just jumps on it and rolls around giggling. You smile, you can't help it. She's like a little dog that's constantly got a bottle of energy stashed away in case she needs more but it's rare that she does because she has just that much.

Rose is sat on the chair by Kanaya, she is reading a book but you can see her eyes every few minutes lifting to check on her. She sometimes remarked on you and Jade and what you're doing.

"Now this is done... what do we do now?" Jade has stopped rolling around and is simply lying there. You're standing rather awkwardly by the pile.

"Can I wash?" You hold your left arm where the bandage is, it's an awkward thing to ask. Like: "Hey I stink can I dirty your bath?" you just don't want to say it. (you don't actually say that)

"Let me just ask Dave," Jade hopes up and springs out the room.

You're left standing awkwardly in the room with Rose, she is looking down reading her book and Kanaya still unconscious. It's silent for a second and you can hear Jade talking with Dave in the other room.

"So, emm Rose. Where is it that you live?" You shift your weigh from foot to foot nervously.

"Here, my bed room is upstairs. It's only Jade that doesn't live here. The only reason this place isn't a mess is because I live here." She doesn't look up from her book.

"How do you afford it? Do you work?" You're a little less nervous.

She puts her finger in the book and looks up at you, "I am still in college but with this," She gestures towards Kanaya, " I had to take a leave, Dave does work but not for very much he's an apprentice. The reason we can afford it is because of our elder siblings, Roxy and Dirk. I suppose you don't remember them either?" You shake your head. "Well yes, they shall be coming by later today. They work at the local club, Dirk is the dj and Roxy is the bar tender." She sighs, "They usually arrive at home drunk, or at least Roxy does."

"Where does Dave work?"

"He does night shifts as a dj as well but at the week end. It means his job is a lot more stressful than Roxy and Dirk only doing it during the week."

"Karkat!" You hear Jade call, you wave slightly at Rose. She nods then returns to her book. You go to the hall and Jade leads you upstairs, you take a right then to your right is a door that is a bathroom. "You can wash in here, give me a second I'll get some clothes from Dave's room to give to you."

"Wait, is he okay with that?" You instinctively grab her forearm.

"Some of it yours, i'll try to get those. I'm not stealing Dave's clothes. They wouldn't fit you." She laughs slightly.

You let go of her arm and she skips off. You stand awkwardly yet again but this time mostly in the door way. You decide to go further into the bath room cautiously; you see the bath shower, the toilet and all the other things that are needed for a bathroom.

You look in the mirror, for a second you don't even recognise yourself. You look like a mess, your hair even looks raspy under the bandage. You're covered in cuts and bruises; your shirt has cuts in it too. You put your hand to the bandage on your head and slowly take it off, trying to give yourself minimal pain. When you see move your mob of hair away from the cut you see that it's actually pretty small but somehow caused so much pain.

You take the bandage off your arm as well, that one is much worse. It's a giant gash, it looks like you've been burnt... how did you even get it?

"Here are your clothes," Jade comes up behind you and you're startled. You turn quickly and then calm when you see her face, you take the clothes from her. "If you need me I'll just be outside in the hall."

"I'll be fine, you can go downstairs if you want." You look at the clothes but decide to examine them once Jade is gone.

"Nope, you can't stop me. I'll be just outside." She hops out the room happily before you can say anything. You go to the door and lock it behind her.

You put the clothes on the floor and go to the shower, you turn a knob and it starts to spurt water. You take off your shirt and look in the mirror again, you're lucky you're a troll. All the bruises that litter your skin mostly blend in with your grey skin. But the bright red cuts show... you wish you had blue or purple blood so then it wouldn't show much. It's not the only reason you wish you had purple or blue blood.

You take the rest of your clothes off and continue to wash yourself. It hurts some times when your brush your hand against just the wrong places and stinging pain grasps your body but it does make you feel better getting all the grim off your body. After you get out you feel amazing, it feels like someone has taken layers off of you and now you're just you and not the dirt that you carried.

You even look better, your hair isn't as much of a mess and the cuts look cleaner. You exit the room to see Jade on the floor on her phone just to the right of the door.

"Umm... Jade? Why didn't you go downstairs?" You get her attention.

"Just in case you needed me." She smiles and stands up, "Let's go get some new bandages." You follow her.


	5. Sollux: be fine

She's dead...

Hehe...

It's not funny

Oh gog it's not funny

The death of your best friend could never be funny.

It's not only that...

You have no home anymore

You have no reason to live anymore

What is left?

Karkart's practically dead to all of you

You didn't bother going to see him

You got transported to a hostel in the city where a lot of people who were practically unharmed during the attack got taken to. None of your friend are here. You like it. You shut the curtains when you get there and fell to the floor. You stayed there, hours... days... people came knocking on your door every so often and as days past they got a lot more vicious.

They broke down the door at 4 days and stay right where you had been all that time.

You didn't cry.

Aradia is dead

But you didn't cry.

Why?

Do you not care?

Did you not love her?

They carried you downstairs and placed food and drink in front of you, you poked at it with a fork they placed in your hand. You feel a hand on your back and slowly black hair comes into view.

"sollux..." You hear the familiar voice. You turn to see her lovely pink eyes staring straight at you with that kind smile that is so forced. She doesn't have tiara on and neither her goggles, she doesn't have her fancy clothes. You guess even the higher class were bombed.

You look away, you don't want to see her right now. If she's here it means Eridan's around...

You feel her arms spread and go around your shoulders, she's warm... You don't want this to go away. Why? You've never felt this way about physical contact... it's always been a human thing. Going around hugging people, kissing. That stuff is left for matesprites only, so why now? Has she turned more human? No... just more humain. That's what our people need, someone with her blood to act like this. Maybe the bombing was a good thing... No you can't think that, she died because of it, nothing is good in the world.

Finally the tears start to seep out of your eyes, only a single tear falls out but it feels like a giant weight off your chest. It's a weight that's always been there with your person but for some reason only now does it feel gone.

"It's okay... I'm here for you." Why does that hit your heart so badly, it physically hurt and you elbow your food away and burry your head in your elbows in one action. You can't let her see you crying, it's worse now they're streaming down. Will they ever stop? Maybe you don't want them to.

"She's gone," You say just loud enough for her to hear you, "how can anything be okay?" You hear your own voice, it's raspy as you've not used it for the past week and it breaks with every few words. It's disgraceful, she doesn't owe you anything. It's not her job to deal with you but for some reason you just don't want her to go.

"I'm here for you." She's then silent, all the people around you two seem to fade away and all is left the warmth that she is providing. The small amount of time that passes after that help you to muster up whatever strength you may have deep in your skinny bones to, slowly sit up and she lets go but you have a different idea. You grab around her shoulders. She feels stiff at first in surprise but you can feel the smile that creeps onto her face, she then hugs you firmly back.

You open your eyes as they're met with the stale familiar face of Eridan. He's glaring at you harshly, you then steadily let go of Feferi. You smile in her face and she returns it, she lifts a hand to your face and wipes away a tear. You lean into her hand and you place yours on her hips. She gently leans towards you and kisses your cheek.

"You need to eat."


	6. Nepeta: be visited by your moirail

The cieling's digusting... it's mostly destroyed. The wood is splintered and rotting, you want to look away from it and not think about how it could fall to pieces and at second but you can't. Your back hurts... of course it does.

When the bomb was coming down Equius covered you, he hugged you so tight it fractured your lower back. You can hardly move now. You've basically unharmed apart from it. You've hardly spoken with Equius for days now. When you woke up he was at your side, he was crying. He had marks all up his back... he really had saved you from that but in the process he did this.

He apologised so many times. He didn't touch you though, you tried to hold his hand but he flinched away and said he had to leave. He does come by everyday to check on you but he tends to just go by the door and you usually pretend you don't see him.

Today's different, you're staring at the ceiling and you know he's at the door with something in his arms. He shuffles on his feet, he wants to come over to you but doesn't have the confidence to. Someone walks up to him and he freezes as they talk to him, he stutters out a response. They're too far away for you to hear what they're saying but you can tell he was not expecting to talk.

He gestures to you then she just goes up to you and asks, "Excuse me miss, do you know him?"

"Yes, he's my moirail." You respond. He comes up behind the person.

"Ohh okay," She leaves quickly that leaves just you and Equius.

"So how are you meowrail?" You giggle. He looks away but you can see the crooked smile on his face, "What do you have there?"

"It's... for you. To apologise." He places it down next to you. He starts to pull off all of the dirty covers on it. "It should help your back... maybe even sort it. It might not fit."

You look at it intrigued. You see a fluffy long blue thing attached to a ring. Wait... if that fits onto your hip would that fluffy blue thing be a...

"Do you want me to put it on you?" Equius lifts it up carefully making sure not to dent it at all.

"Yes," You gently push yourself up causing pain and he opens the loop and warps it around you, you find the buckle and clamp it on yourself. Equius adjusts a few thing then steadily steps away.

"Can you stand now?" You look at him then down to your legs, you use your arm to push yourself up. You feels so supported by it and it decreases the pain in your lower back so much that you hardly notice it.

Once you're on your feet you jump at Equius and hug him, he doesn't hug you back but just whispers into your ear, "have you noticed the best bit?" He grabs at behind your butt.

He pull the blue tail into your sight, you hold it yourself and start to chase it.

"Equius, it's amazing! I'm like a cat! I love you!" You hug him again.

You hug for a more and then, "have you seen outside?" he asks calmly.

"No, i've been stuck here." You gesture at the bed.

"Well, do you want to go for a walk?"

"yes!" You hop towards the door and he smiles and walks behind you.

You step outside and freeze as you see the rubble abyss. You grab a rock from below your feet and throw it. The sound of it hitting the ground echos for so long, "It's so empty..."

"It's even emptier now that no one is scavenging... They're going to start rebuilding it next year if they can get the funds. It looks bad at the moment."

You start to walk in a random direction, "What happened to our friends? How are they right now?"

"I'll go in hemospectrum order, Feferi, Eridan and Gamzee are fine and have moved to the hostel, i'm fine. Vriska lost an arm and an eye, Terezi's blind but they've both gone to the hostel and managing. Kanaya is living with Rose and is recovering, Sollux is fine I think. Tavros damaged his legs badly and won't be able to walk again. Karkat lost his memory."

"Lost his memory? What about Aradia, is she okay?" He's silent, "Equius?"

"She died."

"Oh my god, Equius! Are you okay?" You stop walking and he stops just in front of you and look back at you.

"I don't know. I was more worried about you than her. I've been avoiding it." He rubs his eyes under his sunglasses.

"I wouldn't expect you to be this good about it."


	7. Dirk: work

Tension?

Suspense?

What the hell is it.

Something is so wrong and you can tell but

You can't help it.

Your name is dirk strider.

Right now...

Umm

Right now, you're at the club

That's for certain.

You can't move.

Your fingers are tracing the records but nothing, you can see the dance floor and everyone looks like they're mid way dancing. Your brain hurts, no music is playing but you can hear the ringing of something. Is it a fan? That could be it.

Life has stopped still for you can all you can think about is, "why aren't you there right now,"

You fucked up.

Maybe that's why everything has stopped now?

Will it go back to normal?

You see your sister across the club, she's serving out drinks. She has one in her hand and she's mid way through handing it to someone with a giant grin on her face. You love her. You'd never say it to her because it'd go straight to her head but she helps you through every day life just with that dorky smile. Her heart is as big as fucking texas and maybe bigger.

You can see the man, that man. You want to be in the way of his flying fist right now, it's going in her direction but where are you? Several meters away on a pedestal, you should be by her side! Ready to take the hit for her. She's not strong, she's got no fighting abilities.

So why her?

When you were on break you were talking with her about the trolls. Those men were nearby weren't they.

Ha, that's why this is happening.

Slowly, so slowly does that fist glide closer. Time hasn't stopped, no.

You're just thinking too fast, your fingers aren't grazing over the turn tables. You hand is on them pushing yourself up and over them. You'll be too late though and you won't see it.

It's painfully slow how long it takes you to reach the other side and start to run, you push people. The, "what," "eh?" and "what are you doing." You get are unbearable but god you have to move fast.

You're too late by now, they've already at least hit her once. You can't see her anymore, you're on the ground and she's on the other side of this gaggle of people.

Move faster legs, at this rate you'll be decked too by the people who you're pushing through.

You get through the group of people and you see them. The dancing people have moved away from where it's happening and the people at the bar have abandoned their drinks to stand away.

He has hold of her shirt and have pulled her mostly over the bar and are beating her. You don't stop to look, you run and jump grab his head.

You don't think.

That second.

You don't think.

You grab his head.

And it goes down straight onto the bar.

You hear the crunch as his nose reaches it, and another whack as his forehead does too. You let go after that and he falls to the floor.

A giant man, he is built of muscles and tattoos. No hair on his head but definitely some sweat and you easily took him down. You grab hold of Roxy under the arms and are about to drag he away when another man punches you across the face.

You let go of Roxy and spit blood. Your glasses are off, heh.

You turn back to see the man, you're the same height as him. Scrawnier and not nearly as much muscles but you can tell from him looking in your eyes that he basically just shat himself.

It's not natural, your eyes. Neither are Dave's. Roxy and Rose can just about get away with it, but bright orange eyes? No one will ever believer that's natural.

You quickly throw a punch back before he can, it hurts your hand but also his face. You go in with the other arm as he is recovering but he's able to grab it. He gets another punch in your rib but then a police man grabs him from behind and a couple more join him. They focus on him and not you.

Good.

You grab Roxy and quickly run out of the club before anyone can question it.

There was a crowd around it but they were focused on the action and not what a couple of employees were doing.

You go around into an alley way, you've been here before several times. Of course you have, you've been working here for about a year and a half now but never before has anything close to that ever happened before.

What do you do?

Call the cops?

No if you wanted a cop to help you would have stayed in there.

No.

Umm.

Call Dave.

Call Rose.

Call Karkat or Kanaya.

Call a friend.

Whoever.

JUST GRAB YOU GOD DAMN PHONE.

You lay Roxy on your lap you assess the damage as you pull your phone out of your pocket. You dial the number and watch her breathing.

It's bad, he nose is broken. Blood is covering her features and she's unconscious.

The phone gets picked up.

"Rose Lalonde." Not your first choice but you'll happily take it.

"Hi. Umm i'm kind of in an alley with an unconscious Roxy on my lap."

Quickly her voice shoots up octaves and is now in panic, or at least as panicy as she gets, "Dirk?"

"Hey," You try to keep your calm voice. "Starting over these guys at bar attacked her because they heard us talking about the trolls. I really need someone to pick us up."

"Why don't you get a taxi?" How irrational, yeah call a taxi when you probably need an ambulance.

"I'd rather not, Roxy is unconscious and bleeding." You exhale and calm yourself even more, you already were calm. You can't not be calm, "Could you just send Dave to pick us up?"

"Yes, certainly." She obviously puts her hand over the phone but you can still hear her call Dave. There's a conversation on the other side that you zone out of as you rest the phone on your knee and stroke Roxy's hair.

Some blood has gotten into it, her hair is a beautiful blonde and her weird twirl that defies nature that's always fascinated you is still on the go. You hear roses voice on the phone again so quickly lift it to your ear.

"-on the way" You didn't hear the first part but you know that she said, "Okay, he's on the way."

"Okay thanks."

"Hang in there."

"Shall do." She hangs up.

You put your phone in your pocket and glance at your knuckles. They're bruised, of course they are, you punched a guy and expected it not to effect you at all? You run a hand down your face and wince as it get to your cheek bone on the left side. Bruised, maybe cut. Not that bad though. You left eyebrow also has a cut on it causes a little amount of blood to go into your eye that you didn't even notice. You were too busy thinking about her and not yourself. As usual.

You sit for a while look out of the alley at all the cars going by, Dave can track you down using a tracker in your phone like how you can track him. A car you recognise pulls up to the drive and you stand up as well as pulling Roxy up.

You walk towards the car and you realize the massive amount of pain coming from your rib.

The car door opens and Dave jogs up to you and takes Roxy from you.

"Hey bro," He says as he walks back towards the car. "Lovely evening." The irony. You're in a hurry and he makes small talk.

Better keep it going, "Yeah," You look up at the sky, "The starts at out somewhere else." There are no stars, that's the joke. You're in a city, of course there are no stars.

He heaves her into the back seat and lies her down, you get into the passenger seat and do up your seat belt. He gets into the driver's seat.

He glances at you, "what happened to your shades?"

"Dude hit them off." You retort stretching your arms as he starts the car.

"Bastard." He hisses as he reverses out of the alley. He drives down the main road towards home.

You look back a couple of times at Roxy just to check on her. Her faces is peaceful, although bruised and battered. You can't take that away from her, she's always calm when asleep maybe that's why she drinks? It might be a coping mechanism for stress she feels? Only she can say.

You arrive at the house and dave says, "Go straight inside, i'll take her in."

"Okay," You agree. You get out the car and hold your ribs, yet again you managed to forget how much it hurt.

You get inside and are greeted by Rose, she leads you into the living room and sits you down on Karkat's mound of bedding. He grumbles slightly as you land on it.

"Where's Roxy?" Kanaya asks.

"Dave's helping her in." You say as you lift up your shirt to look at your rib, Rose had left the room to get a first aid kit. Kanaya stands up and opens the front door to have Dave walk in it with Roxy in his arms.

She gets carried into the room with you and is placed on the sofa, she opens her eyes basically as she's dropped there.

"Dirk?" She says, her voice is slightly croaky, "Did i blackout?"

Haha, that's actually funny. She thinks she just got really pissed. "No, you got hit."

"Is that why you're bleeding?" She lifts her hand and reaches towards your face, you grab her hand and hold it in your own.

"Yeah, It's fine though, you'll be fine. Just rest. They'll get us patched up." She retracts her hand and stares up at the ceiling.

Rose then comes in with two first aid kits. She hands one to Kanaya and she comes at you with sterilising wipes. You try to take them from her hand but she continues. You just close your eyes and let her do it. After a while, she then puts a plaster on your eyebrow.

She then lifts your shirt, you protest. She then insists silently and gets your shirt off, it's cold but she continues to wrap up your ribs. She takes the bandage around them and over your shoulder to keep it in place.

"Done, how's Roxy." Kanaya stands up leaving you.

"Not too bad. It looks worse than it is." Rose replies leaning back .

"Thanks Rosie. That is just my face you're talking about." Roxy is grinning, you can hear it.

-long chapter this time, sorry-


	8. Jake: hear the news

"Jake!" You hear your little sister calling you from downstairs. "Jake!"

"Yes Jade?" She pokes her head into your room, "What is it?" You ask her.

She looks distressed but she could have just have been playing with the dog too hard or something. "Dirk and Roxy got beaten up!"

You tilt your head in a questioning manner, "You're kidding right? Dirk?"

"Mostly Roxy from what i've heard. I'm going over there now, Karkat might have to stay here the night." She looks back at her phone then back to you, you stand up and walk over to her.

"Slow down, who's Karkat?"

She looks down at her phone and starts to scroll through it as you talk, "He's a troll boy, you've met him. In the bombing he lost his memory and they don't have many beds over there right now so he maybe can sleep with us?"

You walk over to your wardrobe and pick up a jacket and put on some shoes, "Let's go over there and see the deal."

She nods quickly then runs out the room, you guess to her room to get ready. You go to your computer and quickly message Jane.

Jake: "Things are going down at the strilondes, i'm going over there now. So i'll be AFK, so don't try to contact any of us."

Jane: "What happening?"

Jake: "Well, i think Dirk and Roxy got a little beat up."

Jane: "Shucks!"

Jake: "Couldn't have thought of a better way to put it myself!"

Jane: "Hope them well for me."

Jake: "Oh, most certainly!"

You walk out the room and pick up your keys, you see Jade downstairs hopping still pulling on her shoes. You open the door for her and she starts to walk away as you lock the house. You cross the street and you're at their house, you knock and wait for a response.

"Karkat, get the door." You hear Dave say.

A voice you think you've heard before says, "Are you sure?"

"Wait," Dave continues, "Rose can you get it?"

"Ofcourse," A couple of seconds pass and the door opens and you're greeted by rose.

"Oh, Jake, Jade. Hello." Rose looks surprised to see you both.

"Hello to you too Rose, we heard what happened , we were hoping we could be of assistance."

"Could you take Karkat?" As soon as the name is mentioned you see a troll boy poke his head around the corner. Ohh yeah! You remember Karkat, he's that troll kid that yells.

"Yeah, sure." You agree and Jade smiles at you, she then goes in to the house to go meet Karkat. "Could i come in too, where's Dirk?"

"In the living room." She gets out of the way of the door and you walk into the living room, you see Dirk sat on a pile of bedding in the middle of the room.

"Dirk! You look like shit!" You go and sit down next to him.

"Thanks, it's nice to see you too." He's slightly paler than usual that, for him, is not an easy task.

"What exactly happened? I know you guys got beat up but how did they manage to get on top of you, the combat master?" You sit back slightly expecting a story.

"These guys started hitting Roxy because they heard us talking about Karkat, i jumped in and they got a few hits before the cops got involved. I just ran off with her and we got Dave to pick us up." He shrugs, "They broke a rib on me, cut my eyebrow and cheek. I think mostly what happened to Roxy was her face."

"Gadzooks! Is there anyway i can help?" You put your hand on his knee.

"Get Karkat out, you've heard why we need him gone." He's so calm about this all.

"What about Kanaya?" You see her through the arch talking with Rose.

"She's going to sleep in Rose's room. It's just that they don't want me climbing the stairs with this rib, so i need to sleep here. Where Karkat usually sleeps."

"Ohh alright, we'll take him now then if you don't mind. I need to cook dinner." You stand up again, you yell through the house, "Jade we're leaving, tell Karkat to get some clothes."

You hear two sets of footsteps running up the stairs straight away. "Thanks dude, this means a lot. As soon as i'm better we'll take him back."

"We can keep him as long as you need." You grin and give him a double pistol as you walk away. You open the door and see Karkat and Jade come down the stairs with clothes in hand. You guide them back to your house, Jade and Karkat go upstairs and get sorted in her room. You go to the kitchen and start cooking a basic dinner, it's a good thing you weren't planning to do anything particularly fancy tonight. Like you even can.

When food's ready you call them both downstairs, they sit down and Karkat seems quiet. You put food on their plates and Jade starts to eat very quickly but Karkat eats slowly. You eat and watch him slightly but deliberately avoid any looks he may send your way.

"So you're both sharing Jade's room?" You say once you're finished.

"Yes we are." Jade nods and is very bold about her choice of words.

"You know i'm supposed to give you both the talk right, you're old enough to do it legally. I think, Karkat how old are you?"

"I... don't know?" He responds still poking his food with his fork. He's quiet... what? You don't remember him being like this.

"He's the same age as me and we will not be having sex!" She scowls at you slightly.

You grin and laugh slightly, "It was a joke! All seriousness, i have my job in the morning. Please do not be that loud."

"What are you?" Karkat mumbles.

You laugh awkwardly, "Sub teacher, i'm training to be full time... it's not going very well but the kids love me."

"You're doing well, don't lie to yourself!" Jade calls you out.

You laughs again, a little less awkward this time, "Anyway you guys go do your thing if you're done. I'll be in my room if you need me."


	9. Vriska: visit her

Why are you here?

You don't care,

Of course you don't

You're Vriska fucking Serket!

You don't care for her at all.

So why are you standing here at her bed?

She has bandages over her eyes,

That would make sense considering it was only her eye area that got glass in it.

She looks so vulnerable.

"Is someone there?" She asks as she sits up slowly, she turns her head as if looking around. You don't move. "If you're there just say something,"

"You sound crazy." You walk and sit down next to her, acting as if you only just got there.

"Vriska," She snarls but you can see her grin, "What do you want?"

"Nothing particularly, i'm just bored." You put your hand behind your head in exaggeration but realize how stupid that is considering she can't see you.

"You can leave, you're fine." She huffs out.

"Not really, they can't let a half blind person leave with only arm."

"Wait what? What happened to you," She reaches out towards you and you guide it to your shoulder, "Holy shit! You don't have an arm!"

"I have the other one. I also lost an eye. I look like a pirate right now." You continue to smile because now you know she can't see you and you can show that you do want to smile. Her hand moves and grasps your other arm.

"That's going to take some getting used to." She cackles.

"No shit, you bitch. No sympathy at all." You push her hand away but she just crawls over to you.

"You've not even mentioned the fact that i'm blind, now that's what i call unsympathetic." She puts her hands on your upper leg and put her face unbelievably close to yours.

"I just didn't feel like it deserved mentioning, you seem to be functioning fine without sight." You feel nervous with her this close.

"Ha, the nurses have no fucking clue what to do with me! Send me to a friend's house? Me friends! Send me to the hostel? No she's blind, what are you thinking!" She sits up but stays knee to knee with you and shrugs, "So i'm kind of stuck here."

"They're planning on taking me to the hostel in a few weeks but i want to move to the city, i'm thinking about getting a few friends to help pay for a house."

"I'm up for it, if you can deal with a blind person."

"We can get you a guide dog." You joke but she slowly lights up then jumps at you in a hug, you are rolled over by her.

"I would love you forever if you do that." She pulls out of the hug slightly to "look" you in the face.

"Yeah, i'll do it." You laugh nervously.


End file.
